Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC Has $1.68 Million Stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC grew its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,193 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC’s holdings in Mastercard were worth $1,681,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MA. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 35,288,912 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $17,425,665,000 after purchasing an additional 257,312 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Mastercard by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,355,081 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $10,545,139,000 after buying an additional 700,769 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Mastercard by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,375,053 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $9,043,972,000 after buying an additional 453,773 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Mastercard by 4.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,501,814 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,800,836,000 after acquiring an additional 304,293 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mastercard by 1.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,308,684 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,115,228,000 after acquiring an additional 64,456 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Mastercard from $595.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Mastercard from $654.00 to $644.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $572.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Mastercard from $591.00 to $588.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Mastercard from $510.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $606.11.

Mastercard Stock Up 0.2 %

Mastercard stock opened at $558.44 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $539.55 and a 200-day moving average of $514.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. Mastercard Incorporated has a twelve month low of $428.86 and a twelve month high of $576.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $509.13 billion, a PE ratio of 40.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit services provider reported $3.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.71 by $0.11. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.71% and a return on equity of 188.47%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Mastercard’s payout ratio is presently 21.89%.

Mastercard declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, December 17th that permits the company to buyback $12.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Mastercard Company Profile

Mastercard Incorporated, a technology company, provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services in the United States and internationally. The company offers integrated products and value-added services for account holders, merchants, financial institutions, digital partners, businesses, governments, and other organizations, such as programs that enable issuers to provide consumers with credits to defer payments; payment products and solutions that allow its customers to access funds in deposit and other accounts; prepaid programs services; and commercial credit, debit, and prepaid payment products and solutions.